this+that: winter

Great googlie mooglie! It’s done! Yahoo!

Here are a few tips about the kit:

Sparkly things.
A project about snow has to have some glitter, wouldn’t ya think? Therefore, I added a couple of “snowflake” (flower) gems and silver metals to help add a little twink. A couple other great ideas would be to add some actual glitter or even emboss your snowflakes! Because I was running way behind schedule (and partly lazy), I opted not to do that.

Stocking cap.
This background of the hat is in two pieces and each of the blue stripes will align correctly within the shape. Lay them out before adhering them. Also, the pieces were still just slightly connected when I pulled it up off the mat, so I left them in it–in order–until I was ready for it. You can use it as a guide if you’ve taken it out.

Paper clip.
Use the small side of a regular-size (small) paper clip. Or, if you’re lucky enough to have Tim Holtz paper clips, those would be divine too. Add the magnet just above it–maybe even make sure it’s horizontal.

Button (SNOW Bingo card).
Just like the Gratitude kit, I used my .75″ circle punch and punched an additional four layers of cardstock and glued it all together. Then, I used my hammer and hole puncher to create the button holes.

The funky tree.
Okay, so y’all are thinkin’ I’m just insane to put all those tiny little “winter berries” on that tree. Alright, alright, you just may be right! You don’t have to do that, the image works great on it’s own. But if you choose to, it’s not difficult, it just takes a tiny bit of time, steadier hands, and maybe some good tweezers.

Again, on this one I left many of the dots on the mat in their positions so that one, they wouldn’t get lost, and two, because two or three of those that are connected together I’d know exactly where to put. The dots are all the same size other than that, so there’s no worries about what goes where really.

Mittens.
Assemble as shown. I did make a tiny stitch mark that cuts and because at this scale it’s really tiny, mine didn’t pop out. So I just kind of poked at it with my paper piercer and “roughed” up the spots and I think it just adds a whole other dimension. Of course, if you use this shape on a bigger scale for other projects it won’t be an issue.

Place a brad through the top of the background and before securing it tightly, tie a string around it in a bow, leaving 2-3″ of string on each end. Secure the brad. Now you can work with the placement of the string and adhere the mittens.

Snowman.
Assemble the snowman before adhering it to the background. Then, wrap and fold a ribbon around the snowman to make the scarf and use Mini Glue Dots to secure it. A knot will most likely be too thick on that little guy.

Oh, and make sure you leave space between his arm and where the scarf will come around his neck.

Cardstock choice.
This is the first time that I have ever really used cardstock that wasn’t American Crafts or Bazzill to cut some of these intricate cuts. I don’t know what it is about AC cardstock and cutting machines, but it ROCKS! The standard Bazzill works well too, but AC is like buttah. Because I didn’t have any colors in AC or Bazzill, I had to use a couple different brands, or textures (they may have been a different-than-standard Bazzill). BIG difference. I had a very difficult time cutting “it’s all” with those. It was crazy! I did turn the cardstock upside down so the texture was on the bottom and then flipped the image so it was reversed. That helped, but still . . .

So, the moral of the story, cardstock choice can make a BIG difference with small and intricate shapes. And AC is ooo-la-la! ;)

Oh, and always double cut the intricate shapes. Soooo much better!

You can use this kit with Cricut, Silhouette, or an digital craft cutter that can use SVG+DXF files. If you don’t have a digital craft cutter? No worries because you can create it digitally! For information on how to do that, read this post HERE.

16 Comments

TOTALLY worth the wait. Gorgeous. Hope to get it done this weekend. Now i just have to remember how to print the print page off. I printed it like 3 times last time because the sizing kept being wrong. I should have written it down, duh! This time I will by golly (: I am sure it was me and my limited skills.

Hi Kerri,I love the colors on this one! Gorgeous. I've been debating on trying one of your kits, but I'm still unsure about doing it completely digital. I don't have a cricut or other cutting machine. I read the post where you explain the process. How do you end up printing everything so it's in the right size? do you print each one on a separate sheet? maybe a 4×6?

Oh Kerri this is my FAVE altho I loooooove them all …This is just MARVELOUS,WONDERFUL, FABULOUS AND PERFECTION for sure…Great Job Kerri You ROCK cant wait to see what Our Dear Friend Nichol has to say about this one or what she will create with it….Thanks soooooo much…xoxoxo

this is beautiful. Can't wait to get started! I just got a new MAC for christmas and am using SCAL with my cricut to cut. Can anyone give me a few pointers? Kerri said that SCAL may resize the files when importing but to adjust them proportionally. I understand the concept but don't know how to do that in SCAL. Anyone using this software that can explain to newbie me? Also, each element is a separate SVG file. How do I know which color they're supposed to be since they aren't grouped together? Maybe I'm missing something… thanks in advance for any insight.

Kerri, I just love this new January kit, it is so cute! I was wondering what to get my sister for her birthday this month and now I know. You are such a talented lady, I look forward with anticipation to each one of your posts. Thank so much for sharing your talent. Renee'